The iPhone 7 May Require A Lightning Port For Wired Headphones

Apple does many things right, but its closed architecture philosophy can lead it down some odd paths. Looking at an iPhone shows you just how; Apple is literally the only major smartphone manufacturer to cling to the idea of a proprietary port for your phone. And they’re not just clinging to Lightning in the face of all logic and sense; they might actually be doubling down by getting rid of the mini-jack your earbuds use in the iPhone 7.

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Jacked Up

Why, you might ask, would Apple inconvenience millions of users and leave you with an awkward method of likely having to use your phone‘s charging port as a headphone port as well? Because of thinness, of course! Apple is obsessed with making each iPhone thinner than the last, and it’s believed that getting rid of that pesky 3.5mm jack could save a whole millimeter! Think of it! One less millimeter! That’s a whole .04 of an inch skinnier than the current iPhone! Finally, that annoying chunker in your pocket will instead be a smooth, sleek piece of glass and metal!

The good news is that Apple hasn’t yet decided Bluetooth doesn’t fit their “screw you, do what we say” design philosophy yet, so those will still work. They’ll just be more expensive and a bit less reliable, but surely that’s worth a millimeter!

Jacking In

If you’ve noticed a wee thread of sarcasm running through this post, it’s because, provided this rumor is correct and sadly it’s well in line with Apple’s recent dimwitted “design over convenience” philosophy, it’s going to ruin the iPhone. Apple is repeating history; innovating at first, and then letting its institutional constipation and refusal to compromise ruin the product. If this rumor holds true, in five years, another kind of history might repeat: Articles running asking how Apple went so wrong from being the king of all companies.